Strategy Consulting Firms: providing a competitive edge to Indian organizations

March 14, 2017

Every organization wants to achieve a competitive edge and that can only be done through a key differentiating factor which a strategy consulting firm with their expertise can help determine and accomplish.

So, what exactly does a strategy consulting firm do? The Strategy consultants help identify and analyze the core problems of an organization, the resources available and advice on the future goals and decision-making process. They often provide long term sustainable solutions after evaluating an organization’s capabilities and the available market opportunities.

Many may ask why organizations need to hire an outside agency and why can’t they do it themselves considering the higher cost involved? Most of these strategy consultant firms have a deep understanding of the industry and an expertise on both small and large scale enterprises helping them address a wide variety of issues suitable for different industry sectors, governments, academic and non-government institutions or individuals etc. These issues can vary from strategy, finance, sales and marketing, technology, operations, mergers and acquisitions to performance improvements. The strategy consulting firms can provide dynamic, interactive and flexible workable solutions with a better analysis and perspective of risk involved and changes required.

Henry Mintzberg, an internationally renowned academic and author on business and management defines strategy in five way – as a strategic planning, strategy as a pattern (understanding the past pattern), strategy as a position (shaped by outside factors), strategy as a ploy (to outwit the competitors) and Strategy as a perspective (based on organization’s ideological perspective). Keeping this in mind, the strategic consulting firms may provide innovative solutions like expanding in new markets or geographies or developing new products or starting an altogether new line of business.

It is not that these strategy consulting firms take over an organization’s decision-making process, but their inputs can serve as guiding policies for the clients. Considering that the top management may be tied with day-to-day operations, or unable to manage things properly, a dedicated team with fresh perspective can prevent from taking any wrong decision or missing a great business opportunity, thus making the role of a strategic consulting firm very important in todays’ times.